Middleboro set to go to polls for new high school vote

Thursday

The debt-exclusion question on whether to build a new $103 million high school is the only item on the ballot. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday.

MIDDLEBORO – After two and a half years of planning, the decision on whether to build a new $103 million high school will fall on the voters Saturday.

Residents will be asked to vote on a Proposition 2-1/2 debt exclusion ballot question to fund the project at 71 East Grove St., and to demolish and remove the existing high school.

Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and the debt exclusion question is the only item on the ballot.

The School Building Committee (SBC) received encouraging news this week from the Massachusetts School Building Authority that the state will contribute an additional $761,000 for the project which will reduce the burden on the taxpayers.

“The MSBA (Massachusetts School Building Authority) funding for the project has increased. Our reimbursement has climbed from 57.74 percent to 61.29 percent with the incentive points they recently awarded. The total grant from MSBA is now at $43,304,369”, School Building Committee Chairman Robert Desrosiers told the Enterprise in a November 1 email.

Desrosiers also announced that the final costs projections for the Feasibility Study Phase has come under budget, which means a cost savings to the town of $448,830.

According to cost estimates released by the SBC prior to the additional funding being added, for the average Middleboro home assessed at $297,000 it would cost an additional $533.18 a year in taxes for the new school. Funding would be based on a declining debt schedule with the initial tax increase declining over its 30-year period. The tax increase would not be applied until 2022 when the new high school is projected to be completed.

“We will do everything we can to bring the cost below the $103 million,” School Committee Chairman Rich Young told the October 2 Town Meeting before the vote authorizing the town to raise money to fund the project.

Features of the 165,000-square foot building include two separate wings< One wing includes two, three-story buildings referred to as the ‘academic wing’ and the second is referred to as the “athletic and performing arts side” that includes a gymnasium, fitness and weight room, and an auditorium which will have a separate entrance for town functions.

“As the Superintendent of Schools, I am very much in favor of this project as it will result in a comprehensive third millennium facility which has been designed through a visionary process to potentially maximize the intellectual, physical, social and emotional well-being of Middleboro children for generations to come,” Superintendent of Schools Brian Lynch told the Enterprise in a November 1 email.

“I am personally convinced that the plan we have put forward is the best solution for the town,” said Desrosiers, noting that the School Building Committee, “has done everything possible to involve the public in this process.”

“I am optimistic that the voters will support the debt exclusion to fund the High School Project. The Building Committee has had feedback that has been very positive,” Desrosiers told the Enterprise, though he realizes, “that there are people who are concerned about the construction costs and the taxes associated with it. On the other side, there are folks who see the need to address the problems with High School and agree with the plan we have developed and presented to the town.”

Town Assessor Barbara Erickson told the Enterprise in a November 1 email that she has heard “mixed comments for and against” the project, in particular from the elderly, “that they are not going to be able to afford that (tax) increase.”

This is the second time in 18 months residents faced a debt-exclusion ballot question. In April 2016 residents approved a debt exclusion for a $9.5 million police station which will cost the average homeowner $89 a year when the project is completed in 2020.

Despite the additional burden on taxpayers, the new high school has received support from residents.

During a Special Town Meeting on October 2, residents came out in force and voted overwhelming, 443 to 5, to authorize the town to raise money to fund the $103 million new high school, including demolition of the old high school.

The vote of town meeting was required before Saturday’s special election could be held.

The School Building Committee also received the support of the Special Town Meeting on June 26 when they voted unanimously to borrow $285,000 to purchase 8.9 acres on Wood Street to be used as an access road to the high school and proposed new high school.

The new high school will address the town’s needs for the next 50-plus years, according to Desrosiers, and will accommodate the current student population of 720, which was the amount authorized by the Massachusetts School Building Authority. The MSBA projects the town’s student population will shrink to 688 over the next 10 years.

The need to either renovate or build a new high school came after NEASC (the New England Association of Schools and Colleges) issued a report on Dec. 19, 2013 indicating the school could lose its accreditation if the 50-year-old building was not upgraded.

Teresa Farley of the Political Action Committee told the October 2 town meeting that she attended all of the meetings of the building committee and was in support of the new high school. “I am voting yes for my children and yours,” said Farley, who received a loud applause from town meeting.

“For a project of this magnitude I would hope there is a high turnout. Whether for or against the new school, the voters need to get out there to vote. My position has always been, if you don’t vote, then don’t complain,” Erickson told the Enterprise.

Anyone seeking additional information on the high school building project may go to www.mhsbuildingproject.com.

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